[tlug] OT. Linguistic ?

[Mauro Sauco <sauco@example.com>]

For those who studied Linguistics:

I've been working on a project to develop a device that could
possibly help people with speaking disabilities.
A very simple approach, basically I made an input device that 
interfaces with an interpreter, a database and a text2speech 
engine (linux/python).
I got a working prototype and some candidates desperately waiting 
to test it, however the input device currently has a limitation of 
20,736 permutations (future words) 
The question is: Are 20,736 words enough for making a "language"?
maybe I should ask, how many words do we use in the everyday
conversation? going to a supermarket, talking to friends,etc, nothing 
too fancy. Can we get a good level of understanding with only 20,736
words ? (sorry if it's not clear, my English sucks)

input device 20,736 possible permutations (12(letters) ^ 4(word lenth))
    |
interpreter 
    |
database
    |
text2speech engine
    |
ENGLISH  (maximum 20,736 words)
JAPANESE (maximum 20,736 words)

is this limitation of 20,736 words a problem?

For those interested in helping, the idea is to put all this staff
into a PDA, possibly a Zaurus and make this as movable as possible.
What needs to be done: set a project, a web-site  and a CVS
repository ; make an web engine for a collaborative updating of the 
token/words database; improve/create the Japanese voices for 
Festival/Festvox; Port the voices to CMUFlite; improve the input 
device.

Provably this already exist, however I was surprised to find out
that no one in the JSRPD (Japanese Society for Rehabilitation of
Persons with Disabilities) have or knows such device. 
I am trying to make something that is real, accessible and
inexpensive (a PDA, a memory and a couple of wiring).

Thanks for any help.

//mauro//